Lily of the Valley
by LilyoftheValley4
Summary: When Starfire first comes to Jump City, it's not Robin who finds her. Being given a new perception of Earth people, Starfire becomes an assassin... for Slade. How will the Titans get Starfire to see the light?


**A/N**: I feel horrible for starting another story when I have so many unfinished. Sorry, but I can't help it! I've gotten into a Teen Titan phase right now. I just hope you can all be patient when it comes to updating, but I hope you enjoy!

**Pairings**: Rob/Star, BB/Rae, Cy/Bee

**Disclaimer**: Teen Titans are not mine but that's okay, as long as I get to say, "Titans, go!"

Lily of the Valley

Starfire looked around and shivered. The ungloved portion of her hands crossed her chest and hid under the opposite arms. She looked down at her purple mini-skirt, wishing it was longer to help stop the shivering. On Tamaran, the sun provided her with a lot of warmth. This place, Earth, seemed to have little to no sun. She didn't know whether or not she could stay on a planet with no sun.

She looked back at the destroyed ship she had stolen in her escape from the Gordanians. During the escape, she had grabbed the first ship she had access to. Unfortunately in her retreat, she realized that she did not have enough fuel to make it to Tamaran, not that it would have been safe to return there anyway. The fuel managed to last to Earth before Starfire was forced to make an emergency landing. Her plane had landed in the park, and she was displeased to see the amount of mess she made. She however, had bigger problems to deal with. She was on a planet that was foreign to her; a planet that she did not know the language of or any of the customs, and she was there, all alone.

Keeping her hands crossed and rubbing them for minimal warmth, she walked through the park. The wind blew against the trees and made them rustle. She could hear a strange croaking sound in the direction of a body of water, and she was unsure whether or not the creature making the sound was friendly. Shadows danced around as trees waved. She saw what looked like a black bird fly into a nearby tree and caw. She let out a high pitched squeak at its cry and quickened her pace slightly. As she moved away, she looked over her shoulder to see if it would follow, but it didn't.

She followed the cement path for a short time before suddenly arriving in almost a completely different world. Gone were the nighttime greens and browns of the park. They were replaced with lights and miniature plane like things that didn't fly but traveled fast on wheels and with lights. One of the lights caught her eyes as it turned around a corner causing her to bring up one of her arms to shield her eyes as she blinked furiously to clear her vision. Lights were everywhere. They stood tall on iron posts to light up the black asphalt and solid concrete. They came out of tall buildings making it look like the insides were on fire, and they lit up advertising pictures and signs that she could neither read nor understand.

Starfire watched as about five giggling girls walked past her in strange clothes talking and chattering in ways she didn't understand. When they saw her they paused. One of them gave a look of detest.

"Girls ain't supposed to be that tall," she said, looking her up and down. Her skin was darker than the rest, which Starfire found strange.

"Shh, Gina! She could be a basketball player!" A girl with hair the color of the white lights said.

Starfire wrinkled up her nose trying to understand if this "basketball player" was a good thing. The girl who had insulted her height seemed to look at her with a new found interest. "Do you play ball?"

Starfire tilted her head then answered, "_Glorb, kinorf ba hinatoran_?" The girls stared looking suddenly frightened.

"What is that, Dutch?" One girl demanded.

"That's not, Dutch," another girl answered. She seemed to be analyzing Starfire. "She's an alien!" The girls seemed to take a simultaneous step back from Starfire and Starfire got the feeling that an "alien" wasn't a good thing.

"What do you think she wants?" A brunette asked, talking about Starfire like she wasn't there.

"I don't want to know!" the blonde said, looking as disgusted as the rest of them. "Go back to your planet, alien!" she shouted. Starfire wanted to cry. The loud tone of voice combined with the low threatening hum in her throat made Starfire sad without having any clue of what they were saying.

"_Glorbin_ _khlor han_?" Starfire asked tearfully.

"What did she say?" The blond demanded fearfully.

"I dunno, but let's go," the dark-skinned girl insisted. Starfire watched as instead of heading in the original direction which they were headed, the five girls turned around and walked as quickly as they could in the direction from which they came. Starfire hung her head as she watched them go, wondering what she could have possibly done to offend them. She continued walking down the street, not paying any attention to where she was going as she pondered on her first meeting with Earth people.

She finally came to an abrupt stop when she ran into a glass window. Starfire pulled away in surprise as she rubbed her nose. Some Earth people in the booth at the window stared at her in shock before laughing. Starfire smiled, believing that these people thought she was humorous. The run-in with the five girls began to fade from her mind as these people began to change her impression of her Earth people. She looked up at the big sign that had a large circle with many different colors on top of it. She didn't understand the words above it, but her nose abruptly caught the scent of something coming through the doors. Her tummy rumbled and Starfire's smile got brighter. She had the impression that these Earth people would be much friendlier than the previous ones and with a happy heart she walked in.

The smell got stronger as soon as she walked in the door. The floor was hard and checkered with black and white square tiles. Lamps hung from single cords from the ceiling in reds and greens. Booths and tables covered the majority of the area. Meanwhile, a man stood looking at the huge black display case above the counter except instead of pictures it had words that Starfire couldn't translate. An unhappy looking man stood facing the opposite direction of the other man, a pen behind his ear and a pad of paper by his hand. Starfire looked a little nervously at the big black oven in the back with fire rising in it before she saw the round thing similar to the sign in front, being put inside and the door closed. Starfire listened curiously as the guy talked to the man at the front of the counter.

"Yeah, I would like a large pizza with everything except anchovies, peppers, and mushrooms. Oh yeah, and no meat." The man working at the counter gave a look of disbelief.

"So you want a vegetarian pizza with no peppers and mushrooms?" the cashier confirmed.

"And no anchovies," the man repeated, looking irritated that he had to do so.

"Right, and no anchovies," the cashier repeated. "$6.23 is your total. Your order will be ready in ten minutes. Next?'

Starfire looked startled as the man walked away and the cashier's call seemed to be directed at her. "What can I get you, pretty lady?" the cashier asked with a smile. Starfire smiled back warmly, happy about his friendliness. She carefully repeated the word she remembered the man in front of her saying in her head before she allowed her lips to try to say them.

"Peeza?" Starfire asked. Her words didn't sound exactly like the man's but the cashier was nodding and seemed to understand.

"What size?" Starfire's smile faded slightly and the cashier seemed to notice.

"We've got small, medium, and large," he helped out. Recognizing the last one as the same the other man had order, she nodded at the last word.

"Large?" the cashier confirmed. Starfire nodded again.

"Okay, what do you want on it?" Starfire frowned again. She didn't know what he was asking. What came on a peeza? He seemed to notice her hesitation because he began firing off names she didn't understand. She wasn't sure what to say but once again, found herself repeating what the man in front of her had said.

"Evrything?" Starfire said. The guy nodded and wrote something down on the paper in front of him. "Alright you're total comes to $7.25." Starfire nodded and made a move to stand where the other man was but the cashier called her back.

"Hey, wait! You got to pay here first!" Starfire looked at the man in confusion. He raised his fingers up and rubbed them together using his left hand. Starfire frowned for a moment before she got an idea. Maybe he wanted to see her starbolt. She eagerly raised her left and held out her palm as her hand turned green and a ball of energy began to form. She raised her head from her hand to look at the man. Instead of being happy, his gaze changed to look at her in fright, just as the girls had.

"Don't hurt me," he insisted. Starfire immediately let the green energy disappear. As the man's face flooded with relief, he at the same time turned angry. "Please leave! I don't want your money!" Starfire looked at him in confusion.

"Out now!" this time he pointed at the door and Starfire suddenly understood. Just like the girls he didn't want her there. Starfire turned around with tears in her eyes to find that many Earth people were staring at her in fear. They had rose from their table to see the commotion and seemed just as upset as the cashier. Without another thought, Starfire ran out of the restaurant with tears in her eyes. She shouldn't have come here, to Earth. The people here were mean and didn't even want to try to get to know her.

Rain started to fall, but Starfire was so upset she didn't even notice its coldness or its wetness. When she finally slowed her pace down to a walk, she realized she had no idea where she was. The buildings seemed unhappy here. They all were dark and sagging slightly in places. Some looked like no one cared about them for a long time. Starfire took this time to shiver as she realized how alone she really was. She was on a planet with a destroyed space ship where everyone was unfriendly to her. Even under custody of the Gordanians she'd never felt this alone. There'd always been someone to talk to. Now, she had no one.

Starfire walked, her red hair falling in tangles around her face. She sniffled as a result of the cold and rain as she began exploring, trying to figure out how to go back the way she came; back to her ship, but each path she blindly chose seemed to lead to a dark corridor where the street suddenly ended because it was blocked by a large fence, wall, or building. Of course she had the ability to fly, but she had not the power to do it. When she reached the next dead end she felt her sadness and loneliness overwhelm her as she sat down on the wet pavement and tucked her head into her knees and cried.

Starfire was so immersed in her tears that she didn't even hear the footsteps of someone approaching her until he spoke.

"Why are you crying, my dear?" Starfire lifted her head up, stunned. This man had just spoken to her in Tamaranean. She leapt to her feet and looked at him startled. There was actually little to see of this man. His body was protected by thick silver and black armor. A symbol was on his chest, but what it was symbolizing she wasn't sure. What was most disturbing was his lack of a visible face. A mask painted in black and orange divided his face vertically in half. The dark side was just that, dark. No eye hole was present at all like there was on the orange side. His mouth couldn't even be seen. Vertical grates cut into the mask gave him the only opening for speech.

Not even caring who he was or how he could speak her native language, she instantly launched into a very jumbled and confusing story of all she'd endured since she'd arrived on Earth. "It's all right, now. I'm here to help you."

"How?" Starfire asked. At first, the idea of finally having someone to understand her thoughts and to talk to had overwhelmed her, but as this mysterious man spoke, she felt a wave of unease pass over her.

"You cannot face the people of Jump City or of Earth until you've learned their customs. I can teach you so that you're more prepared to face the world," he insisted.

"I am in Jump City?" Starfire asked.

"Yes, now come along, my dear. We must get you out of the rain." Starfire gave a shiver as the coldness made itself noticeable again. The man began walking and Starfire looked hesitantly into the darkness. After all, she didn't know this man and something inside her told her not to trust him but the idea of companionship, maybe even a friend seemed a whole lot more inviting than the darkness. Leaving no more time for thought, Starfire took off after the man that would change her future.


End file.
